Courtney Pine - 'I became one of the most hated saxophonists of all time' | The Independent Features Courtney Pine - 'I became one of the most hated saxophonists of all time' Despite his billing as one of Britain's most celebrated and influential jazz artists, Courtney Pine tells Ian Burrell that it hasn't been an easy ride to the top table Friday 12 November 2010 00:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Culture He might be Britain's most famous saxophonist, but Courtney Pine spends an awful lot of time in the dog house. Sometimes he's in the metaphorical kennel to which the jazz establishment consigns those who don't conform to its maxims. But more often he's down in the garden shed, practising his musicianship in the place he really does call "the dog house". Recently, the sound of the instrument wafting across the gardens of Harrow, north-west London, has not been the saxophone but the rare timbre of the bass clarinet. For the first time in his long career, Pine has made an album on which he exclusively plays this "much hipper instrument", which he hopes will become "a new voice in the jazz world".

The album, Europa, is eclectic, a collection of the sounds and flavours of the European countries that Pine has toured for more than two decades. "I've been to Budapest, the Red Square and Turkey, and I'm picking up tunes and instruments and languages and I've tasted the food – and I'm thinking, 'How can I put this story into one album?'" Tall and broad with long dreadlocks gangling from beneath a black bandana, Pine is a striking figure. His thrilling 1986 debut album, Journey to the Urge Within, transformed the jazz world and gave a platform to new British black musicians such as the pianist Julian Joseph, drummer Mark Mondesir and singer Cleveland Watkiss. The son of Jamaican immigrants, Pine later released Closer to Home, which highlighted his Caribbean roots and his teenage career as a reggae musician. He is also closer to the streets than some of his jazz contemporaries and has done collaborative work with drum'n'bass and hip-hop artists. All of which might make an album inspired by Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, with song titles in Spanish and Norwegian, seem like a departure.

Not at all, he says, arguing that the recording is a "continuation" of his story, another reflection of his life. "I've always talked about my African, Caribbean and European roots, so this makes sense. I could go and do a George Gershwin tribute or the songs of Louis Armstrong, but this is about my environment and my travels." Although the album won't be released until 25 February, he will perform the material for the first time at the London Jazz Festival on 15 November with the band that he handpicked for the project. The jazz bassist Alec Dankworth, son of John and Cleo Laine, has lived in Spain and inspired some of the Spanish elements on Europa. On piano, Pine has the classically-trained Zoe Rahman, who was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2006. He is working with his "favourite drummer" Mondesir for the first time in 17 years. He is hoping that the recording will leave a lasting legacy. "The album is deep, man. It's not an album I should be doing. I should be making disco commercial records with [grime rapper] Tinchy Stryder!

But I just had this wake up moment – 'When are you going to do one of those albums?' I thought 'Okay, I've got my own label, I'm still gigging, I've got the bass clarinet and the musicians, let's do it now'." The earthiness of the bass clarinet, he says, makes it ideal to tell the story of these European journeys. Asked if he's trying to raise the bar, he compares learning to play the instrument to doing the pole vault. "The reason why it hasn't been used so much in jazz is because it's so very hard to play," he says, citing American bass clarinet greats Bennie Maupin and Eric Dolphy, and European exponents Louis Sclavis from France and Henri Bok from Holland. Pine, like some of those others, is a saxophonist who first played the clarinet at school. Now 46, his journey to the top table of British jazz has been less straightforward than some assume.

Speaking in Soho, the epicentre of the London jazz world, he says he has rarely headlined at that neighbourhood's famous Ronnie Scott's club, so that when people tell him they "Saw you at Ronnie's" he treats the compliment with some suspicion. He saw his first jazz gig at that same venue as a 15-year-old, being mesmerised by the American trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, in spite of the attempts of the club's doormen to persuade the teenager that he wouldn't enjoy it. His hopes of taking his study of the saxophone into the realms of higher education were thwarted when he was "kicked out" of school while doing his music A-level and told there was "no point" in him trying to reach university. At 16, Pine was already travelling the country at weekends with the reggae band Inity Rockers and some of his teachers, he suspects, may have wanted to take him down a peg. The experience clearly still rankles, though he is now a professor of music at Thames Valley University with honorary doctorates at Westminster and Southampton. When he achieved fame, the jazz world, instead of rejoicing at the renewed interest in the genre, was not universal in its enthusiasm.

"Because I hooked up a deal with Island Records and got lots of promotion I became one of the most hated north London saxophonists of all time," he recalls. Even now, there is "this jazz police in this country that claim they know everything about jazz," he says, adding that "this music is stronger than them." Though he praises the London Jazz Festival for the diversity of its programme, other international events have succumbed to the commercial demands of a financially pressured music industry, meaning that an artist like Pine, who releases his material on his own label Destin-E, struggles to get bookings, in spite of having performed to crowds of 8,000 in his career. As a teenager, Pine was aware of the iniquities of the music business when he played with reggae acts on television programmes in the Eighties and realised that some of the pop artists could neither sing nor dance. "I thought what's going on, you have this person miming on stage and getting paid six grand and you've got musicians like the great Harry Beckett playing in a pub for change," he says, referring to the great British trumpeter who died this year.

"I just stuck to my guns." So he still practises religiously in the dog house, a red mark on his lip a permanent sign of dedication to his craft. His compositions usually begin on his Yamaha C3 grand piano and he composes from score using a laptop and the Sibelius computer programme. The album that will follow Europa will be a collaborative work with some of the great veterans of British jazz. "John Dankworth has gone and Harry Beckett has gone," he says regretfully. "I want to do an album called Legends with guys like [trombonist] Rico [Rodriguez], [pianist] Russ Henderson and [saxophonist] Andy Hamilton, who is 92. I need to do something with these guys from the old school.

As opposed to working with the younger musicians, I want to go the other way." Courtney Pine appears on a double bill with New Orleans trumpeter Christian Scott at Royal Festival Hall, London SE1 ( on Monday 15 November Five to see at the London Jazz festival Herbie Hancock, Royal Festival Hall, Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 November A member of Miles Davis's second great quintet, the Grammy Award-winning pianist will perform the live version of his latest recording, 'The Imagine Project'. Sonny Rollins at 80 Barbican, Saturday 20 November The last of the great bebop saxophonists is still on form; his energy astonished the audience at last year's sold out show. Juliette Greco Royal Festival Hall, Sunday 21 November A muse for Sartre, Camus and Cocteau, Greco (above) sings songs by Brel and Gainsbourg and performs her first London show in 10 years. Cleo Laine Barbican, Tuesday 16 November The queen of British jazz is sadly without her partner of decades, Sir John Dankworth, but will appear alongside the next generation of Dankworths, bassist Alec and singer Jacqui.

Chucho Valdés Barbican, Thursday 18 November The greatest Cuban pianist, alongside eight-piece The Afro-Cuban Messengers, performing their new release, 'Chucho's Steps'. More about: Courtney Pine @ All About Jazz Read more Like many of his generation of young, black, UK jazz musicians, Courtney Pine came from a reggae and funk background. Pine is a dazzling performer on many instruments, notably saxophone, clarinet, flute and keyboards. He was a member of Dwarf Steps, a hard-bop band consisting of Berklee College Of Music graduates, before joining reggae artists Clint Eastwood And General Saint. Courtney Pine's interest in jazz was fostered when he participated in workshops run by John Stevens. He came to wider public notice as a result of playing with Charlie Watts' Orchestra, George Russell's European touring band and with Art Blakey at the Camden Jazz Festival. In 1987, he played at the Bath Festival with the Orchestre National de Jazz. By that time, his reputation had spread far beyond jazz circles, and his first album was a massive seller by jazz standards.

He appeared before a huge worldwide audience at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Concert at Wembley, backing dancers IDJ. Courtney Pine has continued to play in reggae and other pop contexts (Closer To Home), and is a frequent collaborator with UK soul singer Mica Paris. Pine has done much to make jazz palatable for a younger audience, and as such is one of the UK's best ambassadors of the genre. LondonJazz: Preview / Interview: Courtney Pine - House of Legends at the Jazz Cafe, Camden, Feb 7-8 Preview / Interview: Courtney Pine - House of Legends at the Jazz Cafe, Camden, Feb 7-8 Saxophonist Courtney Pine CBE talked to Alison Bentley about bringing Caribbean-influenced jazz from his latest House of Legends album to Camden’s Jazz Cafe, Feb. 7th and 8th. Alison Bentley: I heard you talk last year about learning on the bandstand with Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. The first time I heard you play was with the Jazz Warriors at the old Bracknell Jazz Festival. Are there still opportunities like that for young jazz musicians to learn on the bandstand?

Courtney Pine: That was in the 80s, right? I remember that one really well. I'm about to launch another band called the Venus Warriors, an all-female band. And it's a version of the Jazz Warriors. I'm having to recount the story of this first show all the time. The musicians were scared of doing that gig. I remember that show, cause there was a great trumpet player called Harry Beckett. He didn't really want to do it. He's like, 'I don't really want to be with these young kids.' And I'm like, 'You're not going to have any pressure, we'll play your music.' I just remember going through this whole thing of convincing my elders, that this would be a good idea. And I'm going though it again with these women. AB: You're setting up new opportunities. CP: It's hard, but I've been doing the best I can. The guys who have come through, like Soweto Kinch, Shabaka Hutchings, they're all award winners, so the process does work. In terms of me, I just had to go and find it, I had to go and search.

But I'm doing the opposite now, I'm going looking for youngsters who want to play, and even though I've told you because you asked me, I don't actually go out and make a big noise about it. But I think it's such a strong component of our industry that we inspire the young and give them a platform to play. I've a record label that does it now as well. There's a band called Empirical that released their début that won Album of the Year. AB: You produced that one? CP: Yes, I did, but they've had three other records out on another label. They've gone on to bigger and better things, and that's the idea, that the elders give them the opportunity to stand up. AB: Is the emphasis on elders training younger people a part of the Caribbean tradition? CP: I think so, yeah. If you look at Caribbean Music, it's all about communication and functionality. You can't really play grooves or scales or sounds that aren't relevant to your village, your town, your nation. It just doesn't work. You find that the music that comes from the Caribbean is from the essence of the community. That's what I've tried to do over the years.

I've done my apprenticeship playing American jazz, playing classical music, using different approaches to become a better musician. When you start to play from the community aspect, you get a different feel, a different sound, a different kind of demarcation. We started this conversation talking about the Jazz Warriors, which is what that band was all about, a community-based band. I was lucky enough to play with Manu Dibango, a Cameroonian saxophonist who's a spokesman in France. He has a political show. He plays great saxophone, and he inspired me. I did a show with him last year, and the reasons why he plays music are what I want to do as well- to inspire others. AB: I was thinking, the Caribbean islands are so close to each other other but their sounds and styles are so different. Is that because the music's associated with individual towns and communities? CP: Very much so. That's made my day you saying that, because a lot of people think that the Caribbean is all Calypso or Bob Marley. It's not. When you think about Cuba and Martinique, and everything in between- there's a lot of variation.

And for me what's inspiring is the fact that these Africans have taken their locality and they've developed something. It's like a scientist saying, 'What can I make out of this thing? What can I make out of these instruments? We can make this style!' One of the styles of music is Mento. If you go on YouTube and look at Mento, there's a guy playing what looks like a cheese grater- and it is! It's what they use to grate the coconut. He's scraping it with some piece of metal. And they put some beads in there, cover both ends, and it's like a shaker. That's what I mean about using your environment to make a new style of music that's particularly relevant to your community. AB: Is it a personal thing, going back to your musical roots? CP: Yeah, cause the first album I ever heard was Ska. My parents, when they came over in the 60s, had a one-bedroom apartment in Paddington, and I can remember holding on to the side of the speaker and hearing this music.

As I got a bit older I listened to the B-sides- they were instrumental versions, and I found out later that these guys were jazz musicians, doing jazz tunes, jazz sets in a hotel in the night. And then during the day the producer, Coxsone or Duke Reid, would call them to make this music and they would get a chance to play some jazz for the B-sides of these Ska records. They feature some great musicians: there's one still living to this day- Ernest Ranglin, the guitarist. He arranged My Boy Lollipop and he produced it. He's a great musician, a legend, and fortunately he's still alive so we can still appreciate him. He was around during those days, so I was bitten by the bug back then. AB: There’s one track on the album called Kingstonian Swing- is there a connection between swing and Ska and Mento music, would you say? CP: I think so. I've always felt it. But when I started doing my research I realised that a lot of the musicians from the Caribbean actually ended up in New Orleans. There's a guy called Jelly Roll Morton, one of the pioneers of jazz.

His mother was from Haiti and he always talked about Haitian music. I've always thought listening to early jazz music that there was something Caribbean in there. And my research justified it. The track Kingstonian Swing actually segues from a tribute to Stephen Lawrence. His mum buried his body in Jamaica. And if you go to Kingston, there's tempo, speed, pace- there's a certain energy that you get in Kingston, and I tried to capture that on this particular track. AB: It's got loads of energy. It really made me want to dance. CP: The whole album made me want to dance. This is the first time I've done a project where I couldn't keep still! Most of my other records were done in the studio. Everything is quite precise- scored and written down. This one- the band just had me on my feet all the time. AB: You've chosen to stick with the soprano on this album- any particular reason? CP: Several. I like to challenge myself. Is it possible to do a whole show on soprano saxophone? It may seem a simple question but in practice it's not that easy. When you play other instruments you get variations of sounds and range.

But it kind of reminds me of the Caribbean. When you think of the great cricket teams of the 70s that Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd led, and how they had so little, but they did so much to inspire and dominate the world in cricket. They didn't have a huge County cricket team like England but they were able to inspire the world. That to me is the Caribbean. For the most part there's a term: Third World. If you've been to the Caribbean- I'm not just talking about holidaymakers -if you've lived in the Caribbean for a period of time, you'll find that there's so much there and it really is about people and the community spirit. The way they interface with their surroundings and survive with so little. I find it hard to call it the Third World- I've been to places far worse. But it terms of playing the soprano, I'm choosing the smallest instrument I could find to lead an album. It made sense to me. AB: It has such a clear, powerful, high sound. CP: Yeah, it's like a a female voice. It's a soprano voice, but it's a limited range.

My previous album [Europa] was a bass clarinet album which had a 7-octave range. This has a 2 1/2 octave range. It's harder to play, but for me it can cut through, cut above- if you practise, which I need to do! AB: Are there any particular soprano players who've inspired you over the years? CP: In no order at all: Branford Marsalis, Waye Shorter, Grover Washington Jr., Ronnie Laws, Steve Lacy, John Coltrane and the master of it all, Sidney Bechet. The instrument really is a difficult instrument to play and they've found a way to give it a positive voice. AB One particular thing I've heard you say- that you feel your real instrument is the human body? CP: Yeah, I find that before you can make the choice to make a sound on an instrument, you hear the sound in your head. You have a concept of what you want to do with the sound, rhythmically, harmonically, spiritually. It's created in your brain first, and you pick up the nearest thing- a stone, or a block of wood or a piece of metal, it doesn't matter.

My favourite musicians are the ones when you go to see them perform, the instrument disappears when they're playing. Like Hugh Masekela or Fela [Kuti]- it's not really about the technical expertise. For some reason the instrument stops being what it looks like. The saxophone stops sounding like a saxophone, but sounds like a human voice. AB: Your own music always sounds really uncompromising but you always manage to take the audience with you. How do you manage to do both those things? CP: It's an interesting thing. I remember the first time I played at the Royal Festival Hall and gave a shout to the guys on the back bench. And a critic actually said I shouldn't have done that. Basically I used to be on that back bench. I was there with the cheap tickets, so I know what it's like. My hero Sonny Rollins- I couldn't afford to see him play for years. I know what it's like to go to a concert and to be squeezed up at the back. I'm not an artist who looks for the VIP lounge. When I'm onstage I know what it's like. I know when you're yawning; I know what's going on.

So I've found ways of keeping myself excited in music and then trying to translate it to the bandstand. In the 80s I was doing what I call an apprenticeship, and I was playing American Jazz Standards. You play these songs and people say, 'Oh, he's not bad. But he's not as good as Charlie Parker.' I noticed every tune had a bass solo and people were yawning! I was yawning as well. And I'd go back to the hotel room and I'd be listening to some Goldie. I thought, 'There's something wrong here, I've got to make an adjustment.' So I started doing more of the music that I was listening to when I went to parties. AB: Urban music? CP: Yeah. The kind of music- if you go to a late night club- those kinds of sounds. And that might be as simple as incorporating a drum pattern or a bass line, or a song- a Bob Marley piece. And I noticed that would make the audience's eyes sparkle. I guess I've been on that path since. There's no point in going on stage and still doing an apprenticeship, or playing background music.

People have paid a lot of money to see you perform- you have to give them something. So my remit is to do something I haven't done before. Alison Bentley: The gigs at the Jazz Cafe- what can we expect? Courtney Pine: We're into the second year of doing the House of Legends project, and I was surprised because I didn't think it would be received so well. The project makes me smile every time I get on the bandstand. It's everything about me and my culture. It's different every night, and I just love playing this music. There are some stiff-upper-lip kind of venues that I have done and I'm looking forward to presenting this music at the Jazz Cafe. It's an open space and Camden Town is very cosmopolitan. I'm expecting a really good time. As a Londoner I know what Camden is like, and this music is ideal for it. It is Caribbean-based, but it is more than that- it is jazz.

Drums / Dube – Robert Fordjour Courtney Pine: 'Carrying my instrument home each day made me feel better about myself' | Life and style | The Guardian This much I know Courtney Pine: 'Carrying my instrument home each day made me feel better about myself' The jazz musician, 49, on standing up to the 'jazz police', playing saxophone on the moon, and being saved by the Pet Shop Boys Courtney Pine: 'If someone can take me to the moon I'll be there, blowing my saxophone like mad'. Photograph: Richard Saker for the Observer Share on Messenger Close The first rule of jazz: stand up to the "jazz police". We can't let these geezers keep trying to control what jazz is. They're a group of very negative individuals who want it one way, for it to be all chicken in a bun. But jazz is not a dictatorship. I struggle with quiche. It stems back to my first day at school when we had it for lunch and I got slapped in the face for vomiting. Being from an Afro-Caribbean family, I'd never encountered it. Every kid has a friend in music.

Carrying my instrument home at the end of each day made me feel better about myself somehow. And when I went to my room, nobody could tell me how to practise. My parents are from Jamaica but they hooked up near Paddington, working in a crisp factory. I don't remember much about the crisps, but my memories are filled with uncles in pork pie hats coming over with vodka and rum, and lots of music playing. The Pet Shop Boys saved my life. It was 1989, I'd lost my record deal, and they gave me a show at Wembley. I'm indebted to Neil [Tennant] and Chris [Lowe] for their love of jazz music. It angers me that celebrities still go bankrupt. I've been there myself – you haven't anticipated the tax bill. No one looks out for you when it comes to that side of the business. The higher the monkey climbs, the more of its arse you can see. My drummer taught me that when I was trying to be the "artiste". I don't borrow clothes. As some of the younger guys would say: "I wear my own garms." At the moment it's ice hockey shirts and SAS socks.

On tour in Canada, you should have seen the looks I was getting. People think you're older when you play jazz. That's fine by me. I've always wanted to be older, as I've wanted to know what I'll sound like at 50, 60, 70. My house is full of computers. My wife laughed when I said we'd have computers in every room one day. I'm a technology obsessive. The death of my two baby daughters [Pine's six children were all born prematurely] made me look at people around me differently, in terms of what their intentions were. The actions of others towards us at that time means I don't deal with time wasters now. My regret is not being a better dad. I was away when my first daughter died. I'm just away too much. Effort can outperform ambition. I realised that when I got an OBE. I drove through my old neighbourhood to the palace to collect it, and I knew I had reached a point beyond anything I had expected. I want to perform on the moon. If someone can take me I'll be there, blowing my saxophone like mad.

Courtney Pine will perform at the Barbican on 19 November as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival ( londonjazzfestival.org.uk ) Courtney Pine | New Music And Songs | Courtney Pine About Courtney Pine Courtney Pine is perhaps the most enigmatic of late 20th century British jazzmen; he has consistently fascinated and frustrated critics with a restless and adventurous musical vision that has brought world music, pop, reggae, electronica, funk, and soul to sit in with the jazz tradition on his recordings. Born in March 1964, Pine spent his youth in London, learning to play multiple instruments, including saxophone (he is proficient on tenor, soprano, and baritone), clarinet, flute, and a host of keyboard instruments. He cut his jazz teeth with the hard bopping Dwarf Steps, before leaving to tour and record with reggae stars General Saint and Clint Eastwood. Pine went back to the jazz root, studying Sonny Rollins' and John Coltrane's improvising styles while participating in drummer John Stevens' jazz workshops before he became a part-time member of the Charlie Watts Orchestra.

Pine left to tour with both George Russell and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers before recording his debut album, Journey to the Urge Within for Antilles. That disc propelled Pine into the public consciousness with its U.K. Top Ten smash "Children of the Ghetto." The album was also reviewed favorably in the U.S. and sold respectably. Pine remained with Antilles through 1992, issuing four more albums with the label, 1987's Destiny's Song + the Image of Pursuance, 1989's The Vision's Tale, Within the Realms of Our Dreams in 1990, and his first reggae outing, Closer to Home, in 1992. Throughout the early '90s Pine also guested with U.K. soul chanteuse Mica Paris. Also during 1992, Pine signed with the 4th & Broadway label and issued the revolutionary To the Eyes of Creation, which fully engaged his myriad interests in African and East and West Indian musics and melded them with jazz improvisation.

Eyes of Creation, Pine's live album, was released by Island in 1995, just prior to his signing with Verve. While with Verve, Pine issued his first complete jazz outing in Modern Day Jazz Stories, recorded with an American band that included Geri Allen, Mark Whitfield, Eddie Henderson, and Charnett Moffett, and featured vocals by Cassandra Wilson and the Angelic Voices of Faith. Jazz purists were almost delighted, and hoped Pine would now stay put in the bosom of tradition so they could laud him as the new Coltrane. Pine frustrated them by employing hip-hop turntablism on 1997's Underground, which included drum and soundscape programming alongside DJs and a band that included Jeff Watts, Whitfield, Reggie Veal, Nicholas Payton, and Cyrus Chestnut. Pine pulled another rabbit out of the hat for 1998's Another Story, issued by Talkin' Loud, wherein he invited a host of electronica's finest DJs -- Roni Size and Attica Blues among them -- to remix tracks from Modern Day Jazz Stories and Underground as drum'n'bass crossovers. It was his last record of the 20th century.

Pine, who was appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000, also issued another award-winner with Back in the Day that year. The album was a tribute to the funky soul-jazz and Afro-funk sounds of Gary Bartz, Fela Kuti, Manu Dibango, Eddie Harris, Idris Muhammad, and Bernard Purdie, all of whom were parts of his musical development in the 1970s. His all-British band was augmented by guests and DJ Pogo. It was his first recording not to be simultaneously released in the United States. Pine scored the two-part BBC documentary Nelson Mandela: The Living Legend, which aired in 2003, and released Devotion at the end of the year in Great Britain and in July 2004 on the Telarc label in the U.S. Once more Pine nailed together disparate harmonic, rhythmic, and dynamic elements from Africa, the Caribbean, jazz, soul, and Indian musics, taking his adventurous discourse into new and previously uncharted territory.

Later that year, he followed up with the sublime large-ensemble jazz-funk set Resistance: The Awakening Process on Destin-E and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster. He also dedicated himself to public education in music, teaching and organizing workshops all over the U.K. In 2009, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and received the prestigious New Year Honours for services to jazz music that same year. In 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Southampton, and released Transition in Tradition (En Homage a Sidney Bechet), which showcased his talents on the bass clarinet, playing not only reinventions of classic New Orleans music, but also paying tribute to the jazz tradition of Great Britain by way of the Caribbean diaspora with the tracks "The Tale of Joe Harriott" and "Toussaint l'Overture." Pine shored up his commitment to bass clarinet on 2011's forward-looking Europa. His band for the date included pianist Zoe Rahman, bassist Alec Dankworth, and drummers Mark Mondesir and Robert Fordjour.

~ Thom Jurek, Rovi Hear more of Underground by Courtney Pine on Apple Music 12 Songs Album Review The first thing that becomes clear on Courtney Pine's Underground is that the hip-hop-jazz hybrids of the 1990s (such as Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, US3, or even the Dream Warriors) missed their target; the combination is much stronger when it's jazz-hip-hop, and the latter becomes a textural element. Pine sticks to his guns-frenetic melodies, engaging song structures, and a keen ability to keep his jazz cool and never lite. Those talents shine further when given the icing of exquisite samples, particularly when the rapid-fire cuts and sharp sense of humor show a respect for turntablism. And lest Pine's jazz fans be dismayed, tracks like "Invisible" seamlessly slip back into Pine's masterful (more traditional) jazz persona. Of particular note is "Tryin' Times," one of the few tracks with vocals, which acts as both a lounge singer vehicle as well as venue for Pine's dizzying saxophone acrobatics.

Underground is a great introduction to Pine's work, and if there's any justice, will someday be recognized as a benchmark jazz-hip-hop hybrid experiment. ~ Jaime Vázquez, Rovi Customer Reviews Born: March 18, 1964 in London, England Genre: Jazz Years Active: '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s Courtney Pine is perhaps the most enigmatic of late 20th century British jazzmen; he has consistently fascinated and frustrated critics with a restless and adventurous musical vision that has brought world music, pop, reggae, electronica, funk, and soul to sit in with the jazz tradition on his recordings. Born in March 1964, Pine spent his youth in London, learning to play multiple instruments, including saxophone (he is proficient on tenor, soprano, and baritone), clarinet, flute, and a host of... Top Albums and Songs by Courtney Pine 1. Courtney Pine Biography Courtney Pine Biography Find Courtney Pine on Amazon.com Born on March 18, 1964, in London, England.

Addresses: Record company---Telarc International Corporation, 23307 Commerce Park Rd., Cleveland, OH 44122. While classified as a jazz musician, Courtney Pine melds a wide variety of influences into his music. The saxophonist and clarinetist has deftly incorporated reggae, electronica, hip-hop, funk and Eastern sounds into his boundary-defying repertoire, working alongside luminaries in each genre. Pine, the son of Jamaican immigrants, was born on March 18, 1964, in West London. He played the recorder as a child, and moved on to a variety of instruments including clarinet, flute, keyboards, and tenor, soprano and baritone sax. The only musician in his family, Pine developed his musical style in isolation. "I picked up a recorder in grade school, followed along on clarinet in secondary school," he told Down Beat in 1992. "Nobody in my family could say, 'Do it this way.' I was 13, a rebel year. Except for football and cricket, I didn't go out much.

I wasn't into joyriding, so I'd go up to my room and make noise, and nobody could tell me I was doing it wrong." Pine began performing professionally as a teenager, forming the hard-bop outfit Dwarf Steps. From there he toured and recorded with reggae artists General Saint and Clint Eastwood. Pine told Down Beat that his nontraditional, eclectic approach was largely influenced by early exposure to renegade saxophonist Sonny Rollins. "If I'd heard Charlie Parker first, I might have felt alienated," he said. "But Sonny Rollins was playing something I could understand: calypso! He was like my uncle! That sucked me into the music completely!" With Rollins and legendary saxophonist John Coltrane as influences, Pine began participating in jazz workshops with drummer John Stevens, and soon joined the jazz ensemble of Rolling Stones' drummer Charlie Watts. He went on to tour with pianist George Russell and drummers Elvin Jones and Art Blakey, and led his own small outfits, including the World's First Saxophone Posse. Pine set out to promote the work of black British jazz musicians, and formed Abibi Jazz Arts in 1986.

The workshop yielded the Jazz Warriors, an all-black big band that included Pine. Pine released his first album, Journey to the Urge Within, on the Antilles label in 1986, and it became one of the best-selling British jazz albums of all time. Pine remained with Antilles until 1992, recording four more albums for the label and establishing himself in critics' eyes as a potential heir to Coltrane. Several of his albums were produced by Delfeayo Marsalis, the son of jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis (who appeared on 1989's Vision's Tale) and the younger brother of trumpeter Wynton and saxophonist Branford. Pine demonstrated his eclectic interests in his last Antilles release, Closer to Home, a reggae-infused album featuring Jamaican reggae artists and produced by dancehall legend Gussie Clark. Pine continued to surprise on subsequent releases and in performance as well.

He guested frequently with British soul diva Mica Paris in the early 1990s and, in addition to Closer to Home, released the African- and West Indian-influenced To the Eyes of Creation on the 4th and Broadway label in 1992. Island released Eyes of Creation, a live LP, in 1995, the same year that Pine released the more orthodox jazz album Modern Day Stories on Verve. Guests on that album included pianist Gerri Allen, singer Cassandra Wilson, guitarist Mark Whitfield, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, drummer Ronnie Burrage and, giving a hint of things to come, turntablist DJ Pogo. Pine told the Toronto Sun that the recording sessions for Modern Day Stories were decidedly atypical. "These musicians know how mad I am and they sensed this project was gonna be different from others. I didn't approach it the way most people do, which is you go into the studio, you get the chart, you play and you go home," he said.

While tradition-oriented critics hoped that Modern Day Stories would mark Pine's return to jazz roots, Pine again confounded observers with his Verve release Underground in 1997, which featured a number of accomplished American jazz artists, including pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Reginald Veal, and drummer Jeff Watts, but also incorporated scratching, vocals, and drum 'n' bass beats. This album was more true to his interests, Pine told the London Independent. "I played so many large halls, wearing a tie, going through the jazz changes, that I just couldn't do any more of it. I'd finish a show and then I'd go back to the hotel room and play a jungle record. It was like, there must be some way of bringing that side into what I was doing." He added that "the itch to play something my younger sister could hear and appreciate without having to know the history of jazz was important to me." Pine's live performances also came to be known as nontraditional events, with the musician's high-energy shows often requiring audience participation. A remix album, Another Story, was released on the Talkin' Loud label in 1998.

Pine assembled an impressive cadre of British jazz, hip-hop and R&B musicians, including vocalists Kele Le Roc, Beverly Knight, and Eska Mtungwezi, bassist Gary Crosby, guitarist Tony Remi, and rapper MC Mello, for 2000's Verve release Back in the Day. "I'm signed to an American label and I've been recording with American musicians for a long time but I've been touring with a great British band and I have absolute confidence in them. So why not record them?," Pine remarked on Verve's website. "I think this album is important because it's an opportunity for me to present new players to people who don't know my music." While critics may still not have known what to make of Pine's sound, the Queen of England was evidently impressed. Pine was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire on New Year's Eve in 2000. Pine released Devotion on the Telarc label in 2004. He plays a wide variety of instruments and also programs loops on the album, which features a broad tableaux of styles and revisits Pine's interest in Eastern sounds.

Included are such artists as members of Transglobal Underground and Young Disciples, as well as tabla luminary Yousuf Ali Khan. Pine told the Verve website that his mission is to redefine notions of jazz. "It's not just about playing the saxophone anymore," he remarked. "Critics wanted to present me as a student of Rollins and Coltrane but it goes beyond the saxophone. If somebody's telling you that you can't step outside the jazz room then that's wrong. I feel I come from outside the jazz room anyway. What gives me a buzz is when somebody hears my music and hears the different elements at play and says 'I didn't know jazz was like that.'" by Kristin Palm Courtney Pine's Career Formed hard-bop group Dwarf Steps as a teenager, the Alibi Jazz Arts organization in 1984, and the Jazz Warriors in 1986; bandleader, 1985--; released debut album Journey to the Urge Within, 1986. Courtney Pine's Awards Named Officer of the Order of the British Empire, 2000.

Famous Works My Secret Life: Courtney Pine, jazz musician, 45 | The Independent My Secret Life: Courtney Pine, jazz musician, 45 Friday 7 August 2009 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online My parents were ... My father, Keith, was a carpenter and my mother, Violet, was a housing manager. They are both still alive, hardworking, traditional and determined to survive in this cold environment. The home I grew up in ... was on Bravington Road in west London. It was one room, with a steel bath to wash the kids in, a paraffin heater and a black and white telly. When I was a child I wanted to be ... an astronaut, then a doctor. Now I am a professor and a doctor of music, so I'm not too far off. The first time I got drunk ... When I was 15 or 16 years old I was in various reggae bands. We used to play venues around the country and I'd often acquire – and then consume – a tin or five of Tennents Super from the bars we played. Those were the days. You wouldn't know it but I'm very good at ...

cycling, though I can't seem to find the time or the right weather for it in Britain. You may not know it but I'm no good at ... maths. At night I dream of ... music. I drive ... a Toyota Previa. If I could change one thing about myself ... I would have been more determined to stay in school and fight the cultural bias of the early 1980s, which stopped a lot of people like me from achieving higher qualifications. What I see when I look in the mirror ... Somebody who needs a haircut. My favourite item of clothing ... SAS-style black combat socks. I wear nothing else. I wish I'd never worn ... purple-tipped platform shoes in 1970s, which my mum used to dress me in as a toddler for trips to church and special occasions. A book that changed me ... was 'Africa: Mother of Western Civilization' by Dr Josef Ben-Jochannan. It went against everything that I'd been taught about European history in school and opened my eyes to my cultural heritage. The last album I bought ... was a collaboration between Rudresh Mahanthappa and Kadri Gopalnath Kinsmen released on Pi records.

Both men are Indian saxophonists: one was brought up and taught to play jazz in America, the other is an older southern Indian veteran who plays traditional music on his saxophone. Movie heaven is ... Spike Lee's film 'She Hate Me'. It's a film that is full of everything: I cried, I laughed, the lot. That's what Spike always does: he comes up with things so out of the box. The person who really makes me laugh ... is Felix Dexter. His humour is so deep you feel the pain afterwards. His punchlines make me feel as if he's lived my life; he understands life from my perspective at least. He has a way of conveying humour that's very personal to me. The last time I cried ... was when my mother-in-law passed away. My favourite work of art ... is the Sphinx in Giza. Even though it's damaged, it has an amazing power when you stand in front of it. My favourite building ... is the Horniman Museum in south London. It contains every type of musical instrument you can think of. My greatest regret ... Not practising the saxophone more when I was younger. My five-year plan ... To provide a platform for talented jazz musicians to release music.

What's the point? Modern life is about the realisation of the constant battle between good and evil, the choice between selfishness and selflessness, yin or yang, heads or tails. If we side with negativity then we have to be ready to live (or die) with the consequences. My life in six words ... Music reflects life / Life reflects music. A life in brief Born in west London in March 1964, the saxophonist Courtney Pine CBE is known for integrating modern styles, including drum'n'bass and UK garage, with contemporary jazz. Pine lives in London with his wife, Dr Jeune Guishard-Pine, and their four children. He will perform at Ronnie Scott's in London on 14 August as part of the Brit Jazz Festival. Visit ronniescotts.co.uk for details More about:

Question: Which instrument does jazz musician Courtney Pine play/
Answer: Saxophone